Four Defendants Sentenced to Prison
in Federal Online Piracy Crackdown

Defendants Receive Prison Terms Between 8 and 18 Months

WASHINGTON - David Chen Pui, 27, of Fountain Valley, Calif., and David Lee
Pruett, 35, of Auburn, Washington, were sentenced to prison terms of 12 and
18 months, respectively, Assistant Attorney General Alice S. Fisher of the
Justice Department's Criminal Division and U.S. Attorney Gretchen C.F. Shappert
of the Western District of North Carolina announced today. Pui and Pruett were
sentenced for their involvement with online software piracy. They were
prosecuted as a result of the Charlotte, N. C., component of Operation
FastLink.

Pui and Pruett each pled guilty to a single felony count of conspiracy to commit
copyright infringement, Pui for distributing pirated works from his own and
other Internet sites, and Pruett for his involvement in the software release
group “Legenda Never Die” or “LND.” On June 27, United States District Court
Judge Graham Mullen sentenced Pui to 12 months imprisonment, and today Mullen
sentenced Pruett to 18 months imprisonment.
The sentencing of Pui and Pruett follow the recent sentencing of Franklin
Edward Littel and Shawn Laemmrich in United States District Courts in
Indianapolis and Marquette, Mich., respectively. The four defendants were
investigated and charged as part of the same FBI undercover operation
headquartered in Charlotte. Both Little and Laemmrich were sentenced to eight
months in prison to be followed by eight months of home confinement.

These are the first federal criminal sentences for members of the so-called
“warez scene” from the Charlotte component of Operation FastLink, an ongoing
federal crackdown against the organized piracy groups responsible for most of
the initial illegal distribution of copyrighted movies, software, games and
music on the Internet. Operation FastLink has resulted, to date, in more than
120 search warrants executed in 12 countries; the confiscation of hundreds of
computers and illegal online distribution hubs; and the removal of more than
$50 million worth of illegally-copied copyrighted software, games, movies and
music from illicit distribution channels.

“Software piracy is no small matter. It robs the rightful owners of the value
of their property,” said Shappert. “Software piracy is cyber-theft, and the
prison sentences given in this case underscore the serious consequences of this
crime.”

These four defendants were members of or affiliated with software release
groups. Three of these individuals were active members of warez groups that
acted as "first-providers" of copyrighted works to the Internet – the so-called
"release" groups that are the original sources for a majority of the pirated
works distributed and downloaded via the Internet. Once a group prepared a
stolen work for distribution, the material was distributed in minutes to secure
computer servers throughout the world. From there, within a matter of hours, the
pirated works are distributed globally, filtering down to peer-to-peer and other
public file sharing networks accessible to anyone with Internet access. The
fourth defendant, Pui, operated his own distribution server.

Operation FastLink was the culmination of multiple FBI undercover investigations
across the country. To date, 31 defendants have been convicted of felony
copyright infringement offenses as a result of the Department of Justice
anti-piracy initiative.

This case was prosecuted by Corbin Weiss and Eric Klumb, Senior Counsels of the
Computer Crime and Intellectual Property Section, Criminal Division and
Assistant U.S. Attorney Corey Ellis in the Western District of North Carolina.